The sport of paintball has experienced tremendous growth. In this sport, targets (generally opposing players) are marked with paint delivered by a “paintball.” The present state of the art paintball is a three gram hollow spherical projectile, usually made of gelatin, and filled with a glycol based pigment. These paintballs are launched from compressed air or carbon dioxide powered devices at velocities not exceeding three hundred feet per second.
The present invention is directed at overcoming two major limitations of present, state of the art paintballs: short range and poor accuracy. These factors have limited the distance at which a paintball can be effectively launched. Thus, one desiring to mark an object must close to within the projectiles relatively short range, which is sometimes not possible and is always inconvenient. In current game play where players attempt to mark their opponents before they are themselves marked, these limitations devolve the game into a close-range shootout. Thus, the emphasis of the sport has been upon high rate of fire launching devices.
Several problems contribute to the short range and poor accuracy of the paintball. First, the short range is due in part to the limitation upon the maximum velocity of the paintball. For safety considerations, in the sport of paintball, the velocity can not exceed three hundred feet per second. Accuracy problems result from a number of factors. Paintballs may not be symmetrical and may not have a center of mass which coincides with the center of the ball. Both of these factors cause the paintball to spin, causing it to curve from a straight trajectory. This is especially the case at a higher velocities. Of course, if the paintball is launcher at a lower velocity, then the paintball's range is further decreased.
A solution to the above-stated problems is desired.